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I wanted to take a minute to welcome and congratulate the newest five star GM, Myron Pauls. He is the first five star GM from Canada and the second outside of the U.S. I witnessed Myron GM at PaizoCon and his 3d custom terrain was incredible to look at.
Some of the recommendations for Myron to be promoted to his fifth star include the following:
"Myron is the most organized and dedicated GM in the Pathfinder Winnipeg Lodge. He spends hours prepping for each scenario, producing maps, handouts and other weird devices... all created to enhance the game for his players (and I would have to add his fans!). He is knowledgeable about the game, able to recite most rulings from memory, and adept at looking up RAW as needed in a fast and efficient way. If that was not enough, he is also engaging and humorous! He gets my vote of confidence."
"Myron's a fantastic GM and is an absolute asset to the Manitoba Pathfinder Lodge. He ensures that every player at his table is having a good time and provides them with an excellent gaming experience. He is always well prepped for scenarios and even makes 3D terrain and detailed color printed maps!! Myron encourages players to roleplay their character and develop their gaming skills. Playing at Myron's table is always a good time!"
"Playing at Myron's table is always a treat. He's prepped and ready to go and that's because he spends hours building terrain and practicing the scenario in his head. The best example of this was when I played Storming the Diamond Gate with him. He had realistic 3-D terrain for us to use as well as a live prop so we could decipher the riddle easier. It made this game so much fun to play. And the best part was, when I ran the scenario he let me borrow the terrain, props, and minis. That's because Myron wants all people to have a good time. Not just at his table but at EVERY table."
"The effort it takes to reach the 5 Stars is undeniable and the rate that Myron has reached this milestone is almost unbelievable. He opens up his home on an almost weekly basis on top of the commitment for running 8-10 games a month at the retail venues, on top of his support for conventions, on top of his support for “Game Day” events. One thing that Myron is particularly know for is the effort that he puts into his preparation. This goes far & beyond what would normally be expected of a GM with the almost constant creation of 3d terrain. Making these pieces takes both time & money that sadly most players never really understand. When given the time to prepare his scenario prep is spot on & the amount of help he has provided to other GM’s by handing out a printed scenario with maps only helps the community that much more for games he’s not even running. Normally a character death is something that I would rarely remember fondly but the experiences I had playing the Temple of Ethereal Enlightenment was a great experience that had almost 3 hours of roleplaying & 20 min of disastrous combat that though unfortunate was still a great game. That he was able to follow through complex player/NCP interactions for that long & maintain that level of fun is just one more testament to his skills as a GM. To sum it all up, games run by Myron are many of the highlights of my experience with pathfinder these last 10 months, He is a credit to pathfinder organized play GM’s & totally deserving to be recognized as a 5 star GM."
Congratulations and welcome aboard Myron!
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I don't know, the 3d stuff is awesome, but for some scenarios, Kyle has inspired me to try the hand-drawn approach. Not sure I have the attention span to pull it off, though. (Hmm, now I get it - the answer is to wipe the party in the first encounter, so you don't have to make the other maps anyway!)
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I don't know, the 3d stuff is awesome, but for some scenarios, Kyle has inspired me to try the hand-drawn approach. Not sure I have the attention span to pull it off, though. (Hmm, now I get it - the answer is to wipe the party in the first encounter, so you don't have to make the other maps anyway!)
Amazing :) I wish I thought of that lol
We are very lucky to have Scott and Myron in Manitoba it just would not be the same without them.
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I really enjoyed reading the feedback that Mike got about Myron from his local players. As more and more GMs climb the 'star ladder' inevitably there will come concerns about game quality and what it really means to be a 5-Star GM. Reading about the above-and-beyond effort that Myron Pauls puts into his games, I feel reassured that 5-Stars still equals quality GMing. Welcome to the top of the mountain, Myron! You can put that 3D terrain crafting to use adding your suite above Roeder's crib.
Venture-Captain, Washington—Spokane
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Congratulations Myron!!! @Walter: Although I have not had the privilege of playing at one of your tables (yet). Based on the help you have given me as well as the information I received from one of your player who paid a visit to my games in Spokane, you would have my vote for your 5th star (my vote probably wouldn't count but you would have it anyway).
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Thanks everyone! I've had a great time playing all those games, and I'm sure I'll have many more memorable moments in the future. I wouldn't have done it without a great group of players locally, and such an awesome community here.
In case anyone doubted my nerd cred, here is a chart of my Pathfinder Society activity since I started just over 2 years ago. I got my 5th star almost exactly 18 months after my first game GMed.
That conservatively works out to:
600 hours GMing
200 hours playing
600 hours prep
For a total of 1400 hours, or approximately 8% of my life. Sometimes it feels like more than that - not that I mind!
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I'd like to throw something else out there... Getting to 150 sessions is tough. Getting to 150 as fast as Myron did is amazing. What it really indicates is that Myron has some superb players in Winnipeg. Many of us have stories of bad tables/bad players. Munchkins, crybabies, powergamers, drama queens, metagamers, you GMs know what I'm talking about. It kills the motivation for a GM to put effort into the game if he/she knows these players are going to show up and bleed the fun out of the experience. No one wants to volunteer to do something that feels like going to work. With the amount of prep that Myron does for his player base in Winnipeg, he has to have some fun folks to play with week after week. Myron getting to five stars says as much about the quality of player at his tables as it does about him.
